Page 26 of Risen
Then I ruffled my fellow beta’s hair and turned back to the building to go do my job.“Hey,” I said over my shoulder.“Wanna see the anti-vampire gadget we stole from the syndicate back in the 1950’s?It’s neat.”I waggled my brows.
He glanced between me and the griffins one last time before turning and jogging to my side.“There is nothing I’d love more.”
Chapter 12
Martina
Icheckedmyweaponsonefinal time as I led our group down the alleyway under the cover of a fae illusion.Yukio created the glamour and Sanka fed it his powerful magic, allowing us to move without being seen, heard, or scented.
The Vanity Ballroom was yet another historical building that had largely been abandoned in the territory shifts between paranorms and humans.The famous dance hall had been built in the twenties, and shut down in the fifties.And yet, its art deco brick exterior wasn’t quite as decayed as some of the beautiful old buildings in town, thanks to the syndicate.
The two-story building was used intermittently by the black market, and those sorts of agreements netted the emperor a hefty bit of cash, so it behooved him to ensure the building stayed standing.The bottom level of the building used to be filled with retail shops back when it was a dance hall, but they now served as market stalls on the top-secret days when the black market vendors showed up, making a convenient location for all your shady magical shopping needs.The ballroom on the second floor was largely unused, apart from the occasional mingling that people did during these secret pop-up events, but the whole place benefitted from preservation magic that kept the building pristine and immune to vandals—or disenfranchised unaligned looking for shelter—during the long stretches when it stood empty.
The old marquee out front still read “Vanity” in vertical letters, though the horizontal line that was supposed to spell out “dancing” had lost a few letters, long fallen into the gutter.The brick walls were sound, though, and the metal stairs we crept under were more solid than their light covering of rust would imply.
Yukio landed silently at my side, a shake of his head telling me that the external entrance to the second-floor ballroom, where Acacia was supposed to meet with the emperor, was sealed.We had anticipated as much, but it never hurt to check.We crept on past the stairs, and I held up a fist to halt the others as I peered carefully around the side of the building to the front entrance, still concealed by Yukio’s magic.
Acacia was there as planned, just stepping out of her stupid black limo.At least she had followed through this far.A tall figure dressed in black took her hand and escorted her up to the front door, and I wrinkled my nose at the burnt-metal scent of a strange sorcerer.She was supposed to arrive alone.But I wasn’t surprised she had broken that rule to ensure her safety.
Whatever blackmail or leverage she had over the magic-wielder at her side must be good—he was strong.Possibly as strong as Sanka.I clenched my teeth to keep from letting out the frustrated growl that wanted to escape.Acacia wanted the emperor dead, but she was probably going to turn her fucking pet sorcerer on us the minute we were done doing her dirty work.I made mental note as I watched her pause at the front door of the building.One more moving part to keep track of in the shitshow that was about to unfold.
The sharp, slightlyoffscent of vampire blood wafted to my sensitive nose and caught the attention of my chupacabra senses as Acacia cut her hand and wrapped it around some sort of charm—the “key” that unlocked the wards so she could pass.
Waving my people on, I stepped forward, grabbing the door before it could shut behind Acacia, using the moment of vulnerability that her “key” granted her before the wards came back online to slip the entire rebel court, plus a handful of naga and griffin warriors, right through the front door under fae glamour.
The rest of the griffins and naga lurked outside the building, surrounding it, in case the emperor somehow arranged for backup.I couldn’t hear, see, or scent them, now that we were on the other side of the wards, but I knew they were there, led by Sadavir’s younger brother.
The emperor usually met with Acacia alone with only a handful of guards elsewhere on the premises.He didn’t want anyone in the syndicate knowing that he got his magic by stealing it from his underlings.He was some kind of paranorm himself, but apparently not strong enough to inspire awe in his stupid cronies without cheating.I curled my lip in distaste in a silent snarl.I hated Acacia with the fire of a thousand suns, but somewhere, some small part of me felt almost enraged on her behalf—on the behalf of another woman being used by the man in power, drained at his whim.
The door snicked shut behind us, and I felt the shiver of the wards re-activating, sealing us inside.My eyes darted around the space, quickly cataloguing my surroundings.Small stalls lined the place, currently lacking their black magic vendors.But a dozen guards stood at the bottom the sweeping staircase that led to the second floor ballroom.More than Acacia had told us to expect.Either she had lied, or the emperor was being extra cautious after the last time he was attacked during one of these meetings in his pocket world hidey hole.
My nose told me the guards were an even mix of vampires, fae, and shifters.Good.No sorcerers down here.Maybe the emperor didn’t want another magic user sensing what he was up to and finding out he had to siphon his magic from others.
Acacia slowly walked across the space and toward the stairs like this was just any other day, giving no sign that she knew we were here.
Yukio’s illusions wrapped around us as we fanned out—thin veils bending light, tricking sound.The naga were all in their half-shifted naga form, and they moved with quiet grace, scales sliding silently against stone.The griffins were less subtle.Their claws clicked with purpose, feathers ruffling in rhythm with their breathing.Thankfully the sound didn’t carry to ears beyond our magical shield.I didn’t like going into a fight with a bunch of unknown allies.But they had been briefed.They knew the stakes.And as much as I hated to admit it, I had a feeling we’d need the help.
Robin brushed past me, moving deeper into the building with Ruya behind her.She shoved the omega into a corner and pointed a finger at Sadavir, setting the naga prince to guard the omega as we all braced ourselves.I drew in a deep breath.This was it.My job was to distract the guard and clear them out, making space for Sanka and the curse breaker to sabotage the emperor’s portal so he couldn’t escape back out of here the way he’d come in.
I could feel the weight of the moment as Acacia paused to slip the “key” into the tiny pocket of the sheath dress she wore—a silver chain, tiny obsidian bead streaked faintly with her blood.A small, smug smile curled one corner of her lips, then she patted at a stray strand of hair that had escaped her upswept chignon.She turned a sickly-sweet little pout of dismay on the guards at the bottom of the stairs, using her childlike looks to her advantage—as usual.“Oh, no!My hair’s all messed up.I just need to pop into the powder room and fix this.Tell the emperor I’ll be right with him.I’d hate to look less than perfect for our lord.”
I narrowed my eyes in disgust as I watched the Bitch Queen retreat to the safety of the bathrooms off to the side, her sorcerer standing guard outside, leaving the rest of us to do all the work.Coward.
I let the anger burn steady under my ribs, fueled by the memory of all the torment I had endured as a vampire slave, under the rule of the syndicate.If Acacia thought she could just take herself out of the fight and get what she wanted while her nice, compliant rebel tools did her dirty work and made her empress, she was in for a harsh fucking wake up call.
One last glance around the room confirmed that we had the emperor’s guards surrounded.Lifting a hand to get everyone’s attention, I let it drop.Two of the guards dropped to the ground in a spray of blood as my knives found their throats.The element of surprise was ruined, and the wards which had been quieted by Acacia’s charm lit up underfoot—pale blue lines crawling across the floor like veins.
“Down!”I barked.
Yukio hissed and took to the air, hovering so he wasn’t touching the floor.But the rest of us weren’t so lucky.My feet stuck to the floor.Straining with all my shifter strength, I moved forward slowly, each leaden step feeling like it weighed a hundred pounds.Even the griffins were grounded, too big to fly in the small space.Sanaka began throwing around magic and cursing to himself.The sigils stuttered, uncertain, and the weight decreased slightly, but the sorcerer had other places to be.
“Move your ass,” I snapped at him, wincing as a bullet winged my shoulder before I threw a knife into the eye of the guard who had fired on me.Sanka channeled all of his magic into freeing himself and the curse breaker.He darted forward, long coat flaring, curse breaker at his heels as Robin gripped a guard at the base of stairs by his throat and lifted him off the ground.Sanka used the break in their defenses to slip up the stairs, dragging the curse breaker behind him and shouting something stupid about doing more cardio.
The guard Robin held suddenly shifted into a tiger, but our alpha princess didn’t let go, grappling with the massive beast in her human form.Her hands shifted to dragon claws, and I turned away to fight my own fight, knowing the tiger wasn’t long for this world.
The staircase was made up of a bunch of short flights of stairs ending in a landing before turning the corner and ascending again, making up a square spiral.The landing area at the top of the second flight of stairs must have been warded to hell and back.I watched out of the corner of my eye as Sanka and the curse breaker hit an invisible barrier and nearly fell back down the steps.
I kept myself positioned so I could see the magic users.They must be close enough to the portal, since they had stopped and begun working their magic.The wards kept out all physical threats, but apparently they couldn’t keep out magic.I let out a breath of relief when Sanka and the curse breaker knelt together and started weaving a spell, chiseling glowing runes into the floor with blades tipped in copper and salt.Sparks flew, and magic crept through the building in unsteady waves that even I could sense.
